Wawa broke ground on its first two stores in Kentucky, located at 9650 Preston Crossing Blvd. in Louisville and 3012 Lexington Road in Nicholasville. The company projects that the stores will open late in second-quarter 2025.
- Wawa is No. 10 on CSP’s 2024 Top 40 Update to the 2023 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count. Watch for the full 2024 Top 202 ranking in the June issue of CSP magazine and in CSP Daily News.
In 2025, Wawa plans to open nine stores in Kentucky. Over the next five to eight years, Wawa plans to build and open five to eight stores per year in the Louisville and Lexington area, with plans to open up to 40 stores in the state.
Wawa currently has more than 20 sites under contract across several Kentucky counties. Those sites are going through the local land development and permitting processes and include locations in the counties of Boone, Bullitt, Campbell, Fayette, Hardin, Jefferson, Jessamine, Oldham, Scott, Shelby, Simpson and Warren.
“We are excited to begin construction on our stores in Kentucky as we get closer to bringing the unique Wawa experience to new customers in more markets,” said Joe Collins, director of store operations for Wawa.
Wawa will begin construction on the following stores in 2024, with projected openings in third-quarter 2025:
- 9650 Preston Crossing Blvd., Louisville, Kentucky
- 3012 Lexington Road, Nicholasville, Kentucky
- 4314 Bardstown Road, Louisville, Kentucky
- 900 E. Main Street, Georgetown, Kentucky
- 1354 Veterans Parkway, Clarksville, Indiana
To build each store, Wawa will invest more than $7.5 million and employ, on average, 140 contractors and local partners. Once open, each store will employ an average of 35 associates, with Wawa expecting to create almost 1,500 long-term new jobs as a result of expansion in Kentucky.
The Wawa, Pennsylvania-based convenience-store chain held an event that welcomed VIP customers, state and local officials and charity partners to mark the start of construction on Wawa’s first Kentucky stores.
As part of the groundbreaking, Wawa and The Wawa Foundation announced contributions to two community partners in Kentucky. Dare to Care and God’s Pantry Food Banks each received a grant of $10,000 from The Wawa Foundation Fly Beyond Fund, an initiative to fight food insecurity and support programs providing nutritious food to build healthy habits and help kids thrive. The funds were part of a $1.5 million Key Issue Grant awarded to food bank partners in Wawa’s operating area.
Wawa has more than 1,000 stores in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Florida and Washington, D.C. The company previously announced that it will open 80 c-stores in North Carolina, the first eight in 2024, and up to 20 in Georgia, with the first under construction in late 2023. Wawa also has revealed plans for 160 stores across the Midwest in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana. And it said it plans to grow its store count in existing markets.
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